Armchair anthropology for the rest of us

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Very rarely do you get to witness the birth of a widely-observed cultural event. Most holidays and celebrations have deep histories rooted in the veneration of a significant figure, commemoration of an ancient religious feast day and/or festival to usher in a new season. Given that they generally have historically-significant backgrounds, new holidays haven’t sprung up very often in the past.

But then the era of mass consumption came along. And now all the rules have changed.

Boxing Day is celebrated in many Commonwealth countries on December 26th, and it’s one of those bank holidays that no one really seems to agree on the origins. Some say it started with aristocrats giving boxed gifts to their tenants, while others believe it used to be a day when churches opened donation boxes and distributed the contents to the poor.*

But for those of us living in Canada, we know that Boxing Day is actually a celebration of all things discounted. Too-good-to-be-true deals are advertised days, and even weeks, before Boxing Day to ensure shoppers go to sleep on Christmas night with visions of cheap goods dancing in their heads.